5 Reasons Why You Must Visit Alsace

With little inspiration for a road trip with our car, I started searching on Google Maps for destinations I hadn’t visit before in a 4 hour driving distance. Which is how I ended up stumbling upon the Alsace region. An unexpectedly beautiful region I somehow never heard of before. And neither had my friends.

When immediately falling for the beautiful photos of these small romantic towns spread out through a landscape of vineyards, I decided: Alsace it was. Let the road trip begin.

While this region isn’t known for ancient landmarks or enormous museums, this area definitely beholds her own charms – worth finding out about. So let me give you all the right reasons why you should visit Alsace.. soon!

It makes for the perfect road trip

Through vineyards and hills you’ll drive from village to village – from castle to castle and from dense forests to marvelous views.

The Alsace region makes for the perfect road trip because of two simple reasons: time and surrounding. Even when you don’t have much time to spare, the Alsace region is a perfect break for a road trip. You don’t need to visit the Alsace for two weeks – even though it wouldn’t exactly be a punishment. If you drive through the region you can easily get a good impression within two to three days. So even if you only have a weekend you’re good to go!

Not even talking about all the beautiful, breathtaking places yet your road trip will lead you. You’ll find yourself in different landscapes every second. The French countryside doesn’t disappoint around here and for a moment you’ll even find yourself thinking you ended up in Tuscany or the Alps.

Wine, wine, wine

When road tripping through the Alsace region you’ll immediately find yourself driving the wine route of the area. It’s one of the more famous wine routes you can follow in France and with that it is no surprise you’ll find a lot of wine farms, stumble upon wine tastings and end up with a car filled with freshly bought bottles.

The Alsace has some very interesting and typical wines you definitely must taste once you’re there: try the Pinot Gris (my personal favorite), Pinot Blanc, Riesling, a Gewurztraminer or a Crémant d’Alsace.. and find out which one you like best!

Every village is equally charming

The Alsace region is created by the German empire, centuries ago. And if you’ve ever seen a small, typical German village you’ll understand that Alsace actually looks more German than it looks French. No matter where you’ll visit: whether it are the larger, more popular cities like Strasbourg or Colmar, or the villages in between like Riquewihr or Kaysersberg – everything looks equally charming.

You don’t need to do anything more than wander around and stare at the beautiful, colorful houses and buildings. This alone already makes your entire trip one to never forget.

Because of the food

With a lot of German influences, being right next to the border, the Alsace region has some great dishes and snacks you must try once you are there. At the moment you’ll arrive in Alsace you’ll immediately find out which snacks these are – you’ll literally get them offered at every corner of the street.

While the Alsace has a lot of regional gems and food you must try, like choucroûte garnie or kugelhopf, these are the two I simply don’t think you can miss:

Tarte flambée – little did I know that the Tarte flambée (or flammkuchen, as some of you might know it), is one of the regions prides’ when it comes to food. This French version of a pizza is the perfect plate to share, to have for lunch or at least to feast on whenever you’re feeling hungry. A Tarte flambée is normally covered with crème fraîche, lots of cheese, unions and bacon but you’ll soon find that every restaurant has created at least one personal variation.

Bretzels – while still not sure why pretzels all of the sudden have become bretzels, you should at least buy one of these giant snacks when walking through one of the villages in Alsace. Whether you’ll end up buying a regular bretzel or find yourself craving a bretzel covered with cheese – you can’t visit Alsace without at least trying!

For peace of mind

While the cities and villages of Alsace are pretty touristic and filled with hikers, bikers and road trippers who are following the wine route, you’ll find peace in between the villages. You are able to get lost within the vineyards, wander around the hills and forests and not meet a soul. It’s quiet once you move away from the wine route and only then you can actually find the peace of the region and her nature. It is perfect.

Nothing but you, nature and a flock of birds happily singing on the background.